Secrets

eighteen

ALL I CAN DO IS SAY THAT THESE ARMS WERE MADE FOR HOLDING YOU OHHHH. I WANNA LOVE LIKE YOU MADE ME FEEL WHEN WE WERE EIGHTEEN!

yes people, it's officially the 18th chapter of this book. thank you go all the amazing support that you've given me and the reminders to update😂. I love you all❤️

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When we woke up the next morning, it wasn't to the laughter of a well received prank like we were expecting. No 'Happy Birthday Niall!'s to unceremoniously wake us from our slumber, and no annoying big brother jumping on top of you screaming 'wake up mini tommo!'

No, none of that. Instead, I woke up on the 13th of September, a Friday may I add, to the sounds of ambulance sirens ringing through the house. That's never a good sign.

"Oi! Bella turn off the alarm would ya?" a groggy voice grumbled to my side. I turned my head to see Harry rubbing his eyes.

"Wait..." he slowly realized. "That isn't the alarm, is it?" I shook my head, and we both sprinted out of the bed and downstairs to see what all the commotion was about.

The first thing I saw was a stretcher carrying a body out of the house. Then I saw Liam and Zayn crying silently by the doorway, and lastly, I saw my brother. Holding cake pan with a popped balloon and a mountain of icing on top.

I heard a gasp from behind me quickly followed by a sob. Harry rushed past me and the rest of the boys to Niall.

"Guys?" I mumbled, afraid that any sound would just cause the floodgates to open for anyone.

"I-I don't know what happened. I walked downstairs this morning, a-and he was ch-choking and couldn't breath s-s-so I called 999," Zayn sobbed. "It's his birthday! What if he dies on his birthday?!"

"He's not gonna die Z. The doctors will make sure of that," Liam reassured him and himself.

"W-what did he choke on?" I asked, walking into the kitchen.

"This fucking prank! I mean who the hell would do this?!" He cried, throwing Harry and my balloon cake on the ground. I gulped and heard a whimper from somewhere behind me.

Harry was just standing there, staring at Niall. I wasn't even sure if he was breathing.

"Lou, I need to talk to you." My brother shot him a weird look.

"Can't it wait a minute? We need to make sure Niall gets to the hospital safely first." Harry hung his head and hummed in agreement.

Quickly, I grabbed him and pulled him aside, out of earshot from Lou and the others.

"What are you doing?!" I hissed.

"I-I-I'm gonna tell Lou the truth," he stuttered. I could tell he was about to break, and I was sad too don't get me wrong. But it was meant as a harmless prank!

"Haz it was a prank!"

"Yeah, a prank that never should have been carried out," he hung his head, wringing his hands together.

He looked up at me with tears brimming his eyes and a somber expression.

"Bells, I thought of it. It should have never been done! I can't live with myself knowing that Ni almost died and I just walked away..." he sighed. "I-I need the guilt to go away."

I took a deep breath and sighed too.

"Okay. But no more covering for me. I can fight my own battles, you know." He cracked a smile at that.

"She's 5'2" with some attitude!" I scoffed.

"Bitch please, I'll have you know that I'm 5'4"!" He laughed, letting my language slide, but instantly became somber once remembering what we were about to do.

Harry lead the way out of the hall and back into the main foyer where my brother was waiting.

"It's about damn time! In case you haven't noticed, Niall's life is at risk!" Louis huffed, standing at the door.

I looked at Harry and gave him the 'Well-I'm-Not-Doing-It' look. He sighed and went forward.

"Lou I need to tell you something- and before you ask no it cannot wait," he rushed seeing that my brother opened his mouth to resist.

"We'll get on with it then."

"We-er... I — I made the prank." Harry's gaze flitted to me, begging me to just shut my mouth.

My brother raised an eyebrow. "You?"

Harry nodded. "You. By yourself?"

Harry hesitated this time, but then nodded slowly. If looks could kill, Harold would already be 10 feet under. In my head, I was calling him all the names in the book!

Know I know what you're thinking. Are you crazy?! He just covered for you and you're mad? Let me explain.

It's not that I don't appreciate him trying, but I'm not a baby! I can handle things just fine on my own and I don't need covering for. I'm sick and tired of Harry just jumping in to save the day all the time and it's getting him in more trouble too! He tries to stop me the night we snuck out, he tries to stop me from dating Zach, he— wait a minute. ZACH! SCHOOL!!

Shit shit shit I'm supposed to start school today!

"Lou?" My brother turned towards me with a glare that quickly softened up. Yeesh. He was not in a good mood right  now.

"I have school today. Eastside Prep remember?" His eyes widened in realization, and he smacked his forehead.

"Shit! Eh- it's still only 7:30, and school starts at 8:15. Go get ready and I'll take you to school. And Harry... get out of my sight. I don't care what you do just leave me alone until Bella gets back from school," he commanded and I sprinted up the stairs to get ready.

Luckily, Li bought my uniform and schoolbooks last night so I had those. I hopped in the shower and did the fastest rinse ever along with the messiest/ kind of nice make up I could do with the short amount of time. I just left my hair to dry naturally and threw on my uniform: a white blouse, maroon blazer with the school's logo, black sheer tights, black thigh length skirt, and black pumps.

Yeah, I know. Black pumps? But hey, they said black shoes no toes showing. Besides, I'm short.

I quickly side fish tailed my hair after it was dry and ran downstairs to get my school bag. Louis was waiting for me in the car, and I'm pretty sure he started to drive off with my door still open!

It was a 20 minute drive to school, and it was 7:58 right now. That meant if we pushed all the lights and he sped on the highway, we might make it.

Miraculously, 16 minutes later we pulled into the school. It was like Chilton from Gilmore Girls; old renaissance look with vines draping it to make it look like California vineyards. It was beautiful to say the least.

Louis drove off, yelling something about Zayn picking me up while he sped off, leaving me in the parking lot.

Glancing around, I saw a lot of other students, none of which that I knew. Suddenly, someone wrapped their fingers around my eyes and whispered in my ear, "guess who princess."

I giggled at the familiar voice.

"Hi Zachary."

"Oi! Don't call me that! It sounds too sophisticated for me," he laughed. "Cmon, I'll show you to the admission office. Oh and by the way, welcome to Eastside!"

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Ok, so there it is! I'm really sorry about my updating, guys...